


Horrific Truth

by TheBigLoserQueen



Series: Mobster AU [29]
Category: Transformers - All Media Types
Genre: AU, Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Human, Alternate Universe - Mob, Angst, Blood, Crying, Death, Emotional, Emotional Hurt, F/M, Fear, Genderbending, Guns, Heavy Angst, Het, Human, Hurt No Comfort, Mobsters, Violence
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-10-06
Updated: 2015-10-06
Packaged: 2018-04-25 02:38:13
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,684
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4943464
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheBigLoserQueen/pseuds/TheBigLoserQueen
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Thornstriker finally finds out what Bloodshed meant to hide from her.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Horrific Truth

**Author's Note:**

> A commission for angelicbluerose on dA.

Thornstriker had been looking forward to going over to Bloodshed’s father house that night. She had only met the man a few times, but she enjoyed his company. Bombrush was very nice to her and always acted like a gentleman. She couldn’t understand why Bloodshed and him didn’t get along well… Well, more like Bloodshed didn’t seem to like Bombrush all that much. It was easy to tell that Bombrush cared deeply about his son.   
  
His wife, Soundwave, was nice too. And incredibly beautiful. Not as friendly as Bombrush, but Thornstriker knew that had to do more with her personality than anything else.   
  
It had just been the four of them that night. Bloodshed’s half-siblings were apparently over at Soundwave’s sister’s house because Bombrush had wanted a more intimate meal among adults. This was the first time he was having a meal with his son’s girlfriend, so he wanted her to feel comfortable and not worry about any curious children.   
  
She wouldn’t have minded meeting the others, but she had a feeling it was more for Bloodshed’s sake than hers. Though he never actually said it, it was easy to tell that Bloodshed wasn’t exactly comfortable around his half-siblings. He didn’t seem to mind his stepmother as much, but that might have been because they worked together.   
  
Thornstriker had thought this before, but after a while she had forgotten about it. Now that she was at Bloodshed’s parents house, the thought came up again.   
  
Whenever she asked about work, the three seemed to dance around the subject. Bloodshed was generally uncomfortable any time she ever asked about what he did at his job. And while Soundwave and Bombrush were certainly more tactful in their responses, it still frustrated her a bit. They wouldn’t tell her where they worked. Just that it was “some big company” and “basic and boring office work.”   
  
She didn’t want to think her friends were right. She didn’t want to believe them and think badly of her boyfriend and his family. But… She remembered the gun. She had found that pistol in his drawer. Not a toy replica or anything like that. A real pistol… It made her wonder why he had one. Why he wouldn’t tell her about having something like that. Were her friends right? Was Bloodshed someone dangerous? Was he and his family… part of the mob?   
  
She tried to ignore it. She tried to pretend that she was just being oversensitive about the whole thing. Her boyfriend wasn’t like that nor was his friends and family. Maybe he just had one before he wanted one. For whatever reason, she didn’t know…  
  
But she tried to push it to the back of her mind. This was supposed to be a nice and peaceful meal. She was supposed to be enjoying herself. The food was delicious and the conversation, once diverted away from work, was pleasant.   
  
Once dinner had finished up, Thornstriker offered to help Soundwave clean up. Though she was discouraged, she did so anyway as her way of saying thank you for the wonderful meal.    
  
So with Bombrush and Bloodshed in the living room, she and Soundwave were putting things away and washing off some dishes before placing them in the dishwasher.  
  
“The meal was really nice,” Thornstriker said, smiling at the older woman as she scrapped food off of one of the dishes. “I think I overate though.”   
  
“I’m happy to hear that you enjoyed it,” she said. “I didn’t know what you liked and my husband wasn’t any help. He said you would eat anything as long as it wasn’t spicy.”  
  
Thornstriker had to give a soft laugh. It was true though; she would eat anything. She wasn’t at all picky. And since Soundwave was a good chef, it had been wonderful. Hopefully she would be able to repay her for the meal by inviting her and Bombrush over to her apartment one day. While she didn’t think her cooking would be as good as Soundwave’s, she could hope to at least make something tasty.  
  
“Is there anything you dislike?”  
  
Soundwave thought about it for a minute as she put away the butter. “Nothing too greasy, really. I’m not one for fried foods either, but I’ll eat it if it’s offered.”  
  
Thornstriker would make a mental note of that. No fried food and nothing greasy. Which was fine, since Bloodshed didn’t like greasy food either. She couldn’t recall him liking anything fried either… Or maybe he just never ate it around her, she wasn’t sure. She would have to ask him one day.   
  
There was sudden a red spot on her glasses that threw her off. She reached up to brush it off, only to find it wasn’t a spot. It was a light. Why was there a light? And it was moving down to her chest…  
  
Soundwave suddenly knocked her down, the older woman’s arms wrapped protectively around her as they fell to the ground. The only reason why she ended up screaming was because the window had suddenly shattered, shards of glass spewing out all over the floor. Soundwave kept her covered and kept her pressed down onto the floor, only hissing to her, “Stay low and lock yourself in the bathroom! Go!”  
  
Thornstriker couldn’t move, even when Soundwave jumped off of her and opened one of the kitchen drawers. Her eyes could only widen in horror when she saw the other pull out a gun. Just like the one Bloodshed had back in his apartment.   
  
The front door was suddenly kicked down, causing her to gasp. But Soundwave didn’t even seem fazed by it and there were already gunshots ringing in her ears. Primus… Oh Primus, what was happening?!  
  
Unable to do anything else, she found the strength to press herself to the wall as she crawled towards the bathroom. But when she had only gotten halfway there, she had turned her head into the living room. Bombrush had moved to take care behind a wall and Bloodshed had kicked over the coffee table to use that as his cover. And they both had guns, firing at the attackers. Firing as if they already knew how to defend themselves. As if they had done this before.  
  
And Bloodshed… He looked… so engrossed in it. Eyes burning red with intensity, with his intent to kill. It looked nothing like her Bloodshed. This was someone else. This was… a mobster. Someone part of the mob.  
  
Her friends had been right. She had been right.   
  
Her boyfriend was not who he said he was.  
  
She made it to the bathroom, quickly throwing it open before crawling inside of it, locking the door behind her. Fearing what would happen if she stayed too close to the door, she crawled into the bathtub and pressed herself against the cold white surface, shaking violently as her mind started piecing together what was happening.   
  
Why he would stay out late. Why he would come back to the apartment complex early in the morning. Why he and his friends wouldn’t tell her about their job. Why he wore a suit to work, despite hating dressing up. Why he had a gun in his drawer.   
  
She held her hands tightly to her chest. Bloodshed was… part of the mob. He was a mobster. The man that had always been so sweet and kind to her, practically treating her like a princess… was a man who had blood on his hands. He had killed people. He had done horrible things. And he was currently in the living room with his father and stepmother, murdering the people who were trying to kill them…  
  
The gunshots were still going, but she faintly could hear thudding and groans. Even though terrified, she couldn’t help to worry about the others. Were they all right? Had they gotten hurt? If she wasn’t so frightened, she would check herself…  
  
Wait. What would happen after this was over? If Bombrush, Bloodshed, and Soundwave killed the other people… There was still her. She knew about them. Their secret. And she was just an outsider, a civilian.   
  
Would they… kill her too? Isn’t that what they did? Kill people who found them out? So they wouldn’t go to the police and rat them out? Or would they threaten her? Torture her into submission? She knew nothing about the mob, so she had no idea, but there had been cases in the news before. About people intending to reveal who was who in the mafia and then they would suddenly disappear, only to end up dead in a river somewhere.   
  
Was she next?  
  
Another shot went off, which made her jump. If they weren’t hesitating to kill each other, they wouldn’t hesitate to kill her either, regardless of whatever or not Bloodshed was her boyfriend.   
  
She found herself grateful that she wore shorts and a nice blouse today instead of a skirt or a dress. Even though her purse was still out in the living room, she had kept her phone in her pocket. If she could just get out of the house and somewhere safe, she could call a friend to come pick her up…  
  
Finding her legs, she forced herself out of the tub and ran over to the small window at the end of the room, just as another shot rang out. And to be horror, it seemed to be the last one.   
  
She had to get out of there.  
  
As quick as her nerve-wracked brain would let her, she quickly unlocked both of the window’s locks. It had taken a few tries since her hands were shaking like crazy, but she managed to do. Just as she started to lean over to see how much of a drop it from the window to the ground, frantic knocking startled her and caused her to gasp.   
  
“Thornstriker!”  
  
She paled. Oh Primus… Oh Primus, it was…  
  
The doorknob jiggled wildly, causing her knees to buckle in terror.  
  
“Open the door! Please open the door! Thornstriker!”  
  
She had to move. She had to run. She had to get out of here!  
  
But because she was so short and had weak arms, she had a hard time finding her footing on the floor to push herself up and over the windowsill. And because her legs were shaking so hard and her palms were sweaty, she couldn’t get a good grip. And the knocks were getting louder, turning into hard and rapid thumps on the door.   
  
He was trying to break the door down. He was trying to break it down so they could come in here and kill her!  
  
It was either dumb luck or skill that she finally was able to pull herself up and get at least her upper body over the windowsill. Now she would just have to carefully push the rest of herself out and then she would fall to the floor. It wouldn’t be painless, but she would rather have some bruised knees than be dead-  
  
Two gunshots went off, causing her to jerk her head back to see that they were shooting at the door. If they couldn’t break the door down, they could break the lock!  
  
She threw caution out the window and pushed herself out the window, only letting out a small cry when she fell and landed on her side. But she had gotten out, just as she heard the door be kicked down. She quickly jumped to her feet and ran, not even carrying that the flats she had on were not in any way good running shoes. As if that actually mattered.  
  
She thought she heard someone call her name, but she didn’t look over her shoulder to find out. Since the window she had climbed out of faced the back of the house, she had to round the side of it to get to the front gate. She had thought of climbing the back fence to give herself more distance between her and the mobsters in the house, but there was no way she would have been able to climb it in time.   
  
Maybe she should have given it more thought though. There were three of them and only one of her. And catching and killing people like her was their job.   
  
So she shouldn’t have been surprised when she opened the gate, Bombrush was standing there and waiting for her.  
  
Thornstriker almost screamed, but the older man grabbed a hold of her and clamped a hand over her mouth. She struggled violently and screamed into his hand, tears starting to trickle down her face. She thought she heard Bombrush say something to her, but she was in such a panic that she didn’t really process it.    
  
She was dragged back into the house, pass dead and bloody bodies, which only made her panic more and cry harder. Her faint was going to be the same. They were going to put a bullet through her head, throw her in a body bag alongside these three bullet-filled men.   
  
“Bombrush, what are you doing?!”  
  
“I didn’t have a choice!” he cried, clearly distressed as he pulled her into one of the back rooms, Bloodshed following while Soundwave went to shut the front door. “She-!”  
  
“Damn it, let go of her already!”  
  
Thornstriker felt she spine turn to liquid when she realized that she was in Bombrush’s study. Soundproof, he had once said. She had thought he was joking, but after everything that just happened… This would be the perfect room to execute her. No one would hear it happen.  
  
Soundwave and Bloodshed both came into the room, making her panic even more. Soundwave looked unsure of what to do while Bloodshed just looked like he was ready to rip a man in half. If she weren’t so terrified, she would have wondered what they were thinking about doing. Especially since Soundwave looked so uncertain…  
  
But all she could think was that they were ready to kill her, possibly thinking of humane ways to go about this. But even it was humane, she didn’t want to die.   
  
She threw back her head and hit Bombrush hard in the jaw. It hurt the back of her head, but it was enough for Bombrush’s grip to loosen on her as he gave a snarl of pain. But even though she had the strength to push out his grip, her legs gave out and she slumped the floor, tears pouring down her cheeks as she shook violently.   
  
She couldn’t bring herself to look up at them, her hands down on the ground, shaking and waiting. Waiting to feel the barrel of a gun to be pressed against her head, waiting to hear them tell her what they were going to do to her. There was nowhere to run, nowhere to hide. She could only sit there and accept her fate, hoping it would be over with soon.  
  
Bloodshed didn’t know what to do. He just wanted to hold her to him, to make her stop crying and to calm her down. He hated seeing her like this. But all he could do was stand there like an idiot, unable to do a fucking thing.  
  
How? How did this happen? She was never supposed to find out. He had assured himself that he would never let her find out who he really was. He knew she would be terrified of him if she were to ever find out.  
  
And now she knew.  
  
And now she was terrified for her life.   
  
Soundwave was the one to move first. Slowly and quietly, she walked passed Bloodshed and kneeled down in front of the crying, trembling girl. She made no move to touch her, though. Primus only knew what the girl was thinking, but Soundwave had a few ideas. She had to calm her down before she did something irrational.   
  
“Thornstriker.”  
  
The young woman flinched, sobbing harder.  
  
“Soundwave-”  
  
Soundwave shushed her husband, never looking away Thornstriker. She flinched when she heard Bombrush, actually falling to her side and curling up into a fetal position. Primus, it was almost as if she were a frightened child. It made her remember how Eclipse used to act during the first year being forced to live in that underground sex club.   
  
She slowly sat down on the ground, trying to make herself appear as relaxed and friendly as possible.   
  
“Thornstriker.”  
  
She flinched again.   
  
“Are you all right?”  
  
Thornstriker didn’t answer, shaking harder.   
  
It only made Bloodshed angrier. All right? All right?! She was on the floor in a fetal position crying her eyes out! Of course she wasn’t all right! It didn’t take a fucking genius to figure out she was scared!   
  
“Damn it, does she look all right to you?!”  
  
“Bloodshed, she’s only trying to help-!”  
  
“And it’s not fucking working!” he shouted, glaring at the older man.   
  
Primus, his hands were shaking. All he wanted to do was grab the man by the throat and throw him and Soundwave out. His girlfriend was traumatized and there was nothing he could think of that would make it better! He just wanted to hold her to him, calm her down, and he couldn’t.  
  
Soundwave stood up. “Would you like to talk to her?”  
  
Of course he did. But he couldn’t say yes. Not when everything he had worked had seemingly shattered in an instant. He had tried so hard to keep the darkness of his life away from her. He didn’t want to taint her, or worse, drag her into it. And now… Now she had been given a front row seat to what he never wanted to show her. What he wanted to protect her friend.  
  
Did he even have the right to talk to her now? It was bad enough that he allowed himself to get close to her in the first place. Playing with a child’s dream of having a normal life outside of the mob. Dancing with the idea that he could be with someone as pure and sweet and innocent as his kind apartment neighbor who didn’t know what sort of life he really came from.  
  
His hands balled into fists and he looked at the ground. Why? Why did this have to happen?  
  
Bombrush gestured for Soundwave to follow him outside. Even though Soundwave would be better at calming the hysterical girl down, Bloodshed needed to be the one to do it. She was his girlfriend, the woman he was in love with and no doubt desperately wanted to be with for the rest of his life.   
  
But now the truth was out. He had to explain things for himself to her; they couldn’t do it for him.   
  
Slowly and quietly, the two left the room and shut the door behind them. Bloodshed could only stand there, staring at the poor girl. Damn it, he had to say something. Just to get her to stop crying…  
  
“Thornstriker?”  
  
Her breath hitched.  
  
“… I just… Please, just… talk to me,” he pleaded, moving to sit down on the floor. Towering over her wouldn’t do him any good. She would probably just be even more afraid of him. “Just… are you hurt?”  
  
Thornstriker hesitated in answering. Primus, she had never heard his voice like that before. He sounded so… heartbroken. As if his entire world had just caved in around him. A part of her wanted to think it was a trick. That he was just acting so that she would look up and find a gun pointed at her head. That he was still going to kill her and it would have been easy for him to do, no matter how much he had told her that he loved her.  
  
And yet…  
  
She slowly tilted up her head, tears still spilling out of the corners of her eyes. Bloodshed flinched back at the sight, but didn’t take his eyes off of her. Primus, he looked so pail and distraught… As if he had been the one to find out that a secret a lover had kept hidden from him for as long as he had.   
  
“You’re… not hurt, are you?” he asked, his voice hushed and tight.  
  
She shook her head, never taking his eyes off of him.   
  
Bloodshed let out a small breath of relief, his shoulders slumping a bit. At least she was okay… physically anyway. Mentally, he had no idea. He couldn’t even look her in the eye and ask how she was feeling. He just didn’t want to see the fear in her eyes from finding out who he really was…  
  
He swallowed, his hands balling into fists. He had to talk about it. Even though he never wanted to, not to her, he had no choice now. He had to tell her the truth, to come out to her and admit to her everything he had wanted to keep hidden. Even if it would force her away from him, he couldn’t lie anymore. Not after what she had just seen.  
  
“… I didn’t want you to know about this.”  
  
Thornstriker tensed up. Oh Primus, he was going to tell her…  
  
“I didn’t… I never wanted to get close to you when we first met,” he murmured quietly.   
  
He didn’t want to tell her any of this. He never wanted to admit how he had felt. Not about this. Not about his life as a mobster, the feelings and thoughts he had kept from her… All for her own protection. Damn it, this was all his fault. If only he had kept to himself. If only he hadn’t allowed him to get close to her… She wouldn’t know what sort of person he was. She wouldn’t be afraid of him.   
  
He wouldn’t be so terrified of losing her.  
  
“I knew I shouldn’t,” he continued, unable to look at her. “But… I just… enjoyed talking to you. I just… I liked being with you. You made me feel… like I wasn’t some sort of monster.”  
  
It had been a feeling he had been used to. He knew what he did was wrong. Illegal. Immoral in some instances. But it wasn’t a life he hated, even though it didn’t make him think very highly of himself. He could never have a normal life and for the longest time, he thought he would have been fine with that. He would continue to be a mobster and work under Megatron until the day he died.   
  
But then he met her. A young woman, pure and innocent and never having been involved in his sort of lifestyle. A woman who hated violence, who no doubt dreamt of a life that was peaceful and simple. A life he could never have or could ever give her. He wasn’t a person she should ever associate with. She should have never have been near him and he shouldn’t have allowed himself to get swept up in his little fantasy of a normal life with such a sweet, wonderful, beautiful woman.  
  
But he let it happen. He became attracted to her. He actually had the gall to ask her out on a date… And before he realized it, she was his girlfriend. He fell in love with her and he didn’t want her to leave him. So he hid the truth from her and had done everything he could to make sure she never found out.  
  
Only for it all to fail and blow up in his face.  
  
“I didn’t want you to know… I just… I was going to keep it a secret. I just wanted to be with you. I-I never wanted to have you know this or see this… I-I just didn’t want you to get hurt. I… I didn’t want you to… to hate me…”  
  
Thornstriker bit her lip and looked down at her hands. She could only assume it was safe to believe that he had no intentions of hurting her… Primus, she actually felt bad for thinking he would do something like that. Bloodshed had told her many times how important she was to him… She shouldn’t have doubted that would change, even if she had discovered this… little secret of his.  
  
She hugged herself tightly as she slowly at up. This was so much to taken in all at once… The man she loved, the man she had silly little dreams about spending the rest of her life with… was a mobster. Was a criminal. She should have been terrified of him and a part of her was. But the other part, the part that loved him, knew better. Bloodshed wouldn’t hurt her; he had never in any way in the past. Why would he suddenly start?  
  
“I know that you hate… violence,” he murmured. “I know you… You shouldn’t be around someone like me. I’m… too dangerous. My lifestyle… It’s not a comfort for someone like you, I-I know that… But it’s all I know. It’s… who I am. What I am. I… Even if I wanted to and ever since I met you, I’ve wanted to so badly… But I can’t leave it. I just… can’t.”  
  
Just how was she supposed to respond to that? She didn’t want to ask Bloodshed to change for her. She couldn’t allow herself to say such selfish things. Even though she wished he was a normal man, who simply worked an office job, she couldn’t ask him to do that. He was who he was because of this mafia life… And she loved him for who he was, regardless of whether the mob was part of him or not.  
  
“… Do you…?”  
  
She glanced up at him, seeing his hands ball up into fists.  
  
“… Do you… want to…” Oh Primus, it sounded like he was about to cry. His voice was cracked and his knuckles were turning white from how hard he was squeezing them. “Do you want to… break up?”  
  
It was like she had been shot in the chest. Break up? But… But Bloodshed… She loved him. Dearly. Breaking up wasn’t something that had even occurred to her, even after she had seen all of that. And the thought now… It terrified her. She didn’t want to lose him, even if this was… a lot to take in.  
  
But wouldn’t it be best if they did? This sort of lifestyle… She couldn’t just accept it. She didn’t want to be part of it either. Not to say she believed that Bloodshed would ever try to force her into the depths of the mafia world, but now that she knew, it wasn’t as if she could pretend like she didn’t know what Bloodshed might have been doing when he went to work. Or what his work might have entailed.  
  
If she stayed with him, how many more of these shootings would she witness? How many more times will she be caught in the crossfire? How long until she became a victim? She couldn’t handle a gun or shoot. She was useless in this sort of situation! If it hadn’t been for Soundwave, she would have been dead…  
  
“Just…” She snapped out of her thoughts when he spoke again, more pained than before. “If that’s what you want… Just tell me. I-I can’t… I can’t be the one to say it…”  
  
Thornstriker’s mouth opened, but she found herself unable to say anything. What could she say?! There was just so much to think about and weigh in… She loved Bloodshed, she really did. But could she stay with him after finding out all of this?   
  
Bloodshed stood up, unable to take the silence anymore. Thornstriker flinched back, afraid he was going to do something, but he simply turned away from her, fists shaking.  
  
“After… After everything’s fixed here, I’ll take you home,” he said, his voice hoarse and quivering. “If… If you need time to… to think about, that’s fine. Just… talk to me… whenever you’re ready.”  
  
Then he left, unable to wait for her to respond. Tears started trickling down her cheeks before she buried her face into her knees, unable to do anything else but weep at the cold hard truth.


End file.
